Personality - estudantedavedanta.net · CONTENTS Publisher’s Note 5 Introduction 7 Personality...

PersonalityDEVELOPMENT

Swami Vivekananda

( PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT )

5 DEHI ENTALLY ROAD • KOLKATA 700 014

Published by

Swami Bodhasarananda

Adhyaksha, Advaita Ashrama

Mayavati, Champawat, Uttarakhand

from its Publication Department, Kolkata

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.advaitaashrama.org

© All Rights Reserved

First Edition, December 1999

Second Edition, November 2001

Twenty-first Impression, July 2009

21M2C

ISBN 978-81-7505-224-6

Printed in India at

Trio Process

Kolkata 700 014

CONTENTS

Publisher’s Note 5Introduction 7Personality Development

•It Is Personality That Matters 22•Laws of Personality Development 26•Different Layers of Personality 30•Man Is Divine 34•Pleasure Is Not the Goal 36•How to Change Our Character? 39•Influence of Thought 45•Control Your Negative Emotions 49•Change Yourself First 52•Take the Whole Responsibility on Yourself 55•How to Work? 60•Work Like a Master 68

4 CONTENTS

•Doing Good to This World 71•Unselfishness Will Bring Success 76•It Is Love That Pays 79•Weakness Is Death 83•Be Brave 89•Heroism 91•Faith in Oneself 95•Imitation Is Bad 98•What Is Ethics? 101•Hold On to the Ideal 104•The Power of Concentration 109•Develop the Sense of Equality 114•Be Free 116•March On! 121

References 124

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

The development of one’s personality,done in the right manner, is a challengingand rewarding task for every individual,particularly for the energetic youth who cangain much from it. It is challenging in that itdemands hard, methodical labour, perse-verance, and careful attention. And it isrewarding since no effort in this directiongoes in vain. In fact, every effort bringssuccess and satisfaction proportionate to theattempt. Moreover, it is every person’s dutyto work towards it, since personality de-velopment is necessary for success in anyfield.

In the writings, talks, and lectures ofSwami Vivekananda, constructive ideasrelating to personality development are

PUBLISHER’S NOTE6

profusely scattered. After culling those ideassystematically from The Complete Works ofSwami Vivekananda, published by us, acompilation entitled Personality Developmentwas published by Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama,Mysore, in December 1999. The bookletincluded an illuminating introduction, forwhich we owe our grateful thanks to itswriter. We now have great pleasure inreprinting this book hoping that the readers,particularly the younger generation, will begreatly benefited in their efforts towardspersonality development.

Kolkata PublisherAugust 23, 2001

INTRODUCTION

What Is Personality?

ACCORDING TO THE Cambridge Inter-national Dictionary of English, ‘your

personality is the type of person you are,which is shown by the way you behave, feeland think.’ Personality, according to theLongman Dictionary of ContemporaryEnglish, is the ’whole nature or character ofa person.’

How a person behaves, feels and thinks,how he conducts himself in a given set ofcircumstances is largely determined by thestate of his mind. Mere external appearanceor a person’s speech or mannerisms are onlyfringes of one’s personality. They do not

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT8

reflect the real personality. Personalitydevelopment in the real sense refers todeeper levels of a person. So a study of ourpersonality should start from a clear graspof the nature of our mind, and how itfunctions.

Necessity to know our mind :

We intend to do many things—makeresolutions to cultivate good habits, to kickcertain bad habits, to study with concen-tration, to do something with a con-centrated mind. Very often our mind rebels,forcing us to beat a retreat from our effortsat implementing our resolutions. A book isopen before us, and our eyes are open. Butthe mind has started wandering, thinkingabout some past events or some futureplans. The same thing happens when wesit for a few minutes trying to pray or thinkof a divine name or form. Says SwamiVivekananda: ’Free! We who cannot for amoment govern our own minds, nay,cannot hold our minds on a subject, focusit on a point to the exclusion of everything

INTRODUCTION 9

else for a moment! Yet we call ourselves free.Think of it!1

According to the Bhagavad Gita, theundisciplined mind acts as our enemy,whereas a trained mind acts as our friend.2

So we need to have a clear idea of themechanism of our mind. Can we train it toobey us, to cooperate with us? How can itcontribute to the development of ourpersonality?

The fourfold functions of the mind:

The human mind has four basic fun-ctions. This can be illustrated by an example:suppose I meet a person whom I had metsomewhere, say, about ten years before. I tryto recollect when and where I met him andwho is he. From the inner recesses of my mindthere begins a process of scanning, as it were,to check if there are any events stored thereconnected with the person. Suddenly I amable to recognize the person as so and so andfinally say ’he is the same person I met in suchand such a place,’ etc. I now have a firmknowledge about the person.


Analysing the above example, we areable to discern four functions of the mind:

Memory: The storehouse of memoryand impressions of our past experiencespresents various possibilities before themind. This storehouse is called chitta. It is inthis storehouse that the impressions of ourthoughts and actions—good and bad—arestored. The sum total of these impressionsdetermine our character. This chitta, again,is what is known as our subconscious mind.

Deliberation and Conceptualization:Not yet sure, the mind examines the manyoptions presented before it. It deliberates onseveral things. This faculty of the mind iscalled manas. Imagination and formation ofconcepts are also functions of the manas.

Determination and Decision-making:Buddhi is the faculty responsible for decision-making. It has the capacity to judge the prosand cons of things and find what is moredesirable. It is also the discriminative facultyin a person, which enables him to discriminate

INTRODUCTION 11

between the real and the unreal, betweenwhat is to be done and what is to be avoided,what is morally right and what is wrong. It isalso the seat of will-power so essential forpersonality development and hence thisaspect of the mind concerns us the most.

’I’ Consciousness: Appropriating tooneself all physical and mental activities eg,‘I eat’, ‘I see’, ‘I talk’, ‘I hear’, ‘I think’, ‘I amconfused’, etc., is called ahamkara or ’I’consciousness. As long as the ’I’ identifiesitself with the undisciplined body-mindcomplex, human life is dictated by eventsand circumstances of the world; we becomehappy with pleasurable events, and mis-erable with adverse circumstances. More themind gets refined and disciplined, more doesone get to know the real source of ’I’consciousness. Correspondingly, a personbecomes more balanced and equipoised inhis daily life. Such a person is no longerswayed by any event or circumstances of life.

These four aspects of the mind, vizmanas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara, are not


watertight compartments. It is the samemind called by different names based on itsfunctions.

More about the mind:

The Katha Upanishad3 describes humanpersonality with the help of a chariot allegory.’Our ’I’ is represented by the master of thechariot; the body is the chariot and thebuddhi the charioteer. The manas is repre-sented by the reins to which are yoked thehorses representing the sense organs—ears,skin, eyes, tongue and nose—which are thefive windows in a human being that give himor her the knowledge of objects in the world.The road on which the chariot travels isrepresented by the sense objects. The humanbeing who identifies himself or herself withthis body-mind system is said to be theenjoyer of objects or the fruits of actions.

If the horses are not broken and if thecharioteer is asleep, the chariot cannot reachits destination. It can even overturn and spellthe death of the master. Similarly, if the senseorgans are not disciplined, and if the power

INTRODUCTION 13

of discrimination lies dormant, one cannotreach the goal of human life.

On the other hand, if the horses arebroken and the charioteer is wide-awake, thechariot reaches its destination. Even so, if thebuddhi is wide awake, and if the sensory systemtogether with the mind is disciplined andcontrolled, a human being can reach the goalof his life. What is that goal? We will come to itshortly. Another important activity of the mindthat concerns personality development is ouremotions. More the emotions are undercontrol, healthier becomes one’s personality.Emotions can be broadly classified into twotypes, viz attraction and repulsion. Love,admiration, aspiration, sympathy, joy, ven-eration, pride and the like indicate attraction.Hate, anger, fear, sorrow, jealousy, disgust,shame, etc., are of the nature of repulsion. Aslong as one is entangled with the undisciplinedmind, one’s personality does not really develop.Buddhi, the charioteer, serves as an effectiveinstrument of self-development by controllingthe emotions and raising the higher self fromthe hold of the lower mind.


What is character?

Every action and thought of ours leavesan impression in our mind. These im-pressions determine how we behave at agiven moment, how we respond to a givensituation. The sum total of all our im-pressions is what determines our character.The past has determined the present. Evenso the present—our present thoughts andactions—will shape our future. This is a keyprinciple governing personality develop-ment.

What activates the body-mind system?

This is an important question, theanswer to which will help us have betterknowledge of ourselves. This questionengaged the attention of ancient Indian seersand sages. They experimented with them-selves—their sensory and mental appar-atus—and after a disciplined quest theyfound out that there is a divine element inhuman beings, which is the Mind of themind, Eye of the eyes, Ear of the ears and

INTRODUCTION 15

Speech of the speech.4 It is this divinity whichconstitutes the real ’I’ and the eternal elementin our personality. This divinity survivesphysical dissolution of the body. This divinityremains latent in us as long as we identifyourselves with our body-mind and thesensory system. The goal of life, accordingto the scriptures and the great ones, is tomanifest this hidden divinity.

What was the central message of SwamiVivekananda?

Swami Vivekananda’s lectures, talks,letters, poems—his life’s work—is publishedin nine volumes entitled The Complete Worksof Swami Vivekananda. Is there any centralmessage of Swamiji that runs through thepages of these nine volumes? Let us hearSwamiji himself: ’My ideal indeed can be putinto a few words and that is: to preach untomankind their divinity, and how to make itmanifest in every movement of life.’5 Man’sinherent divinity was Swamiji’s centralmessage. The following famous quotation ofSwamiji can be our mantra for personality


development: ’Each soul is potentially divine.The goal is to manifest this Divinity withinby controlling nature, external and internal.’6

Swamiji was never tired of rousingpeople to be conscious of their inherentdivinity and perfection. He wanted thisdivinity to manifest in our day-to-day lives.In fact, he held this manifestation of divinityas the sole index of civilization of human-kind:

”A nation may conquer the waves,control the elements, develop the utilitarianproblems of life seemingly to the utmost limits,and yet not realize that in the individual, thehighest type of civilization is found in himwho has learned to conquer self. 7

”This universe is simply a gymnasiumin which the soul is taking exercise; and afterthese exercises we become gods. So the valueof everything is to be decided by how far itis a manifestation of God. Civilization is themanifestation of that divinity in man.”8

This divinity in us is the repository ofeternal existence, eternal knowledge andeternal bliss. The more it manifests, the more

INTRODUCTION 17

we experience abiding happiness and getsupreme knowledge.

Strengthening of will-power, the essence of per-sonality development:

The divine core of our personality iscovered, as it were, by five dimensions:

• Physical dimension consisting of ourbody and senses.

• Energy dimension which performsdigestion of food, circulation of blood, res-piration and other activities in the body.

• Mental dimension characterized by theactivities of the mind, like, thinking, feelingand emotions, etc.

• Intellectual dimension characterized bythe determinative faculty in a person. Thisis also the seat of discrimination and will-power.

• Blissful dimension experienced as blissduring deep sleep.

Each succeeding dimension is subtlerthan the preceding one and pervades it.

2


Personality development implies pro-gressive identification with higher dim-ensions of personality. Thus a personidentified only with the physical dimensionwithout exercising his higher mentalfaculties, lives not far different from animals,whose pleasure and pain are restricted to thesensory system.

Development involves struggle withone’s lower mind characterized by desires,old habits, wrong tendencies, impulses andbad impressions. The lesser we identify withthe lower mind, and the more we identifywith the higher mind, and exercise our buddhi(discrimination), the more developed willour personality be. This involves struggle tograpple with one’s mind and its old habits,to cultivate new and wholesome ones. Butthis struggle is the greatest of all struggles inthat it makes us civilized in the real sense ofthe term by manifesting our divinity andthereby our hidden perfection.

INTRODUCTION 19

Some essential qualities for personality devel-opment:

Faith in Oneself: Swamiji held faith inone’s potential divinity as the sheet anchorof personality development. Faith in Godcame next only to faith in oneself. If onebelieves that one’s real nature is the spirit—not the body or the mind—one would be abetter individual with strong character.

Think Positive Thoughts: Swamijidecried, in no uncertain terms, weakness inhuman beings. Positive, wholesome thoughtsbased on our inherent divinity are essentialfor a strong character. ’Go on doing good,thinking holy thoughts continuously, that isthe only way to suppress base impressions...Character is repeated habits and repeatedhabits alone can reform character.’9 Further,according to Swamiji, the only sin is to thinkof oneself and others as weak.

Attitude towards Failures and Mis-takes: Swamiji advocated upholding theideal once again even if a person failed a


thousand times. He appreciated committingmistakes and learning from them rather thanleading an inert existence like a wall, whichcannot even tell a lie.

Self-reliance: Man is the maker of hisown destiny, said Swamiji: ’We are res-ponsible for what we are, and whatever wewish ourselves to be, we have the power tomake ourselves.’10

Renunciation and Service: Swamijiheld selfless service as a paramount meansto character development. This, coupledwith renunciation of selfishness and desirefor the fruits of action, was considered bySwamiji as the twin ideal of our nation.’Intensify her in those channels,’ said he, ’andthe rest will take care of itself.’11

This booklet:

This booklet is a humble attempt topresent Swamiji’s ideas on personalitydevelopment spread over the nine volumesof his Complete Works. We hope that a perusalof this booklet inspires our youth to make a

INTRODUCTION 21

deep study of Swamiji and his works, andawakens in them a desire to mould theircharacter and develop their personality. Anoble character and developed personalitywill ensure excellence in one’s chosen field,and contribute to individual and nationaldevelopment. Says Swamiji: ’Teach your-selves, teach every one his real nature, callupon the sleeping soul and see how itawakes. Power will come, glory will come,goodness will come, purity will come, andeverything that is excellent will come whenthis sleeping soul is roused to self-consciousactivity.’12

It Is Personality That Matters

WHAT WE WANT IS to see the man who isharmoniously developed . . . great in

heart, great in mind, [great in deed] . . .. Wewant the man whose heart feels intensely themiseries and sorrows of the world . . .. And[we want] the man who not only can feelbut can find the meaning of things, whodelves deeply into the heart of nature andunderstanding. [We want] the man who willnot even stop there, [but] who wants to workout [the feeling and meaning by actualdeeds]. Such a combination of head, heart,and hand is what we want.1

You see what is happening all aroundus. The world is one of influence. Part of our

IT IS PERSONALITY THAT MATTERS 23

energy is used up in the preservation of ourown bodies. Beyond that, every particle ofour energy is day and night being used ininfluencing others. Our bodies, our virtues,our intellect, and our spirituality, all theseare continuously influencing others; and so,conversely, we are being influenced by them.This is going on all around us. Now, to takea concrete example. A man comes; you knowhe is very learned, his language is beautiful,and he speaks to you by the hour; but hedoes not make any impression. Another mancomes, and he speaks a few words, not wellarranged, ungrammatical perhaps; all thesame, he makes an immense impression.Many of you have seen that. So it is evidentthat words alone cannot always produce animpression. Words, even thoughts, con-tribute only one-third of the influence inmaking an impression, the man, two-thirds.What you call the personal magnetism of theman—that is what goes out and impressesyou.

In our families there are the heads; someof them are successful, others are not. Why?


We complain of others in our failures. Themoment I am unsuccessful, I say, so-and-sois the cause of the failure. In failure, one doesnot like to confess one’s own faults andweaknesses. Each person tries to holdhimself faultless and lay the blame uponsomebody or something else, or even on badluck. When heads of families fail, they shouldask themselves, why it is that some personsmanage a family so well and others do not.Then you will find that the difference isowing to the man—his presence, his per-sonality.

Coming to great leaders of mankind, wealways find that it was the personality of theman that counted. Now, take all the greatauthors of the past, the great thinkers. Reallyspeaking, how many thoughts have theythought? Take all the writings that have beenleft to us by the past leaders of mankind; takeeach one of their books and appraise them.The real thoughts, new and genuine, thathave been thought in this world up to thistime, amount to only a handful. Read in theirbooks the thoughts they have left to us. The

IT IS PERSONALITY THAT MATTERS 25

authors do not appear to be giants to us, andyet we know that they were great giants intheir days. What made them so? Not simplythe thoughts they thought, neither the booksthey wrote, nor the speeches they made, itwas something else that is now gone, that istheir personality. As I have already remarked,the personality of the man is two-thirds, andhis intellect, his words, are but one-third. Itis the real man, the personality of the man,that runs through us. Our actions are buteffects. Actions must come when the man isthere; the effect is bound to follow the cause.

The ideal of all education, all training,should be this man-making. But, instead ofthat, we are always trying to polish up theoutside. What use in polishing up the outsidewhen there is no inside? The end and aim ofall training is to make the man grow. Theman who influences, who throws his magic,as it were, upon his fellow-beings, is adynamo of power, and when that man isready, he can do anything and everythinghe likes; that personality put upon anythingwill make it work.2

Laws of PersonalityDevelopment

THE SCIENCE OF YOGA claims that it hasdiscovered the laws which develop this

personality, and by proper attention to thoselaws and methods, each one can grow andstrengthen his personality. This is one of thegreat practical things, and this is the secretof all education. This has a universalapplication. In the life of a householder, inthe life of the poor, the rich, the man ofbusiness, the spiritual man, in every one’slife, it is a great thing, the strengthening ofthis personality. There are laws, very fine,which are behind the physical laws, as weknow. That is to say, there are no such

LAWS OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT 27

realities as a physical world, a mental world,a spiritual world. Whatever is, is one. Let ussay, it is a sort of tapering existence; thethickest part is here, it tapers and becomesfiner and finer. The finest is what we callspirit; the grossest, the body. And just as it ishere in microcosm, it is exactly the same inthe macrocosm. The universe of ours isexactly like that; it is the gross externalthickness, and it tapers into something finerand finer until it becomes God.

We also know that the greatest poweris lodged in the fine, not the coarse. We seea man take up a huge weight, we see hismuscles swell, and all over his body we seesigns of exertion, and we think the musclesare powerful things. But it is the thin thread-like things, the nerves, which bring powerto the muscles; the moment one of thesethreads is cut off from reaching the muscles,they are not able to work at all. These tinynerves bring the power from something stillfiner, and that again in its turn brings it fromsomething finer still—thought, and so on.So, it is the fine that is really the seat of power.


Of course we can see the movements in thegross; but when fine movements take place,we cannot see them. When a gross thingmoves, we catch it, and thus, we naturallyidentify movement with things which aregross. But all the power is really in the fine.We do not see any movement in the fine,perhaps, because the movement is so intensethat we cannot perceive it. But if by anyscience, any investigation, we are helped toget hold of these finer forces which are thecause of the expression, the expression itselfwill be under control. There is a little bubblecoming from the bottom of a lake; we do notsee it coming all the time, we see it onlywhen it bursts on the surface; so, we canperceive thoughts only after they develop agreat deal, or after they become actions. Weconstantly complain that we have no controlover our actions, over our thoughts. But howcan we have it? If we can get control overthe fine movements, if we can get hold ofthought at the root, before it has becomethought, before it has become action, then itwould be possible for us to control the

LAWS OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT 29

whole. Now, if there is a method by whichwe can analyse, investigate, understand, andfinally grapple with those finer powers, thefiner causes, then alone is it possible to havecontrol over ourselves, and the man who hascontrol over his own mind assuredly willhave control over every other mind. That iswhy purity and morality have been alwaysthe object of religion; a pure, moral man hascontrol of himself. And all minds are thesame, different parts of one Mind. He whoknows one lump of clay has known all theclay in the universe. He who knows andcontrols his own mind knows the secret ofevery mind and has power over every mind.

Now, a good deal of our physical evilwe can get rid of, if we have control over thefine parts; a good many worries we can throwoff, if we have control over the fine move-ments; a good many failures can be averted,if we have control over these fine powers.1

Different Layers of Personality

THIS GROSS PART OF MAN, this body, inwhich are the external instruments, is

called in Sanskrit, Sthula Sharira, the grossbody; behind it comes the series, beginningwith the organs, the mind, the intellect, theegoism. These and the vital forces form acompound which is called the fine body,the Sukshma Sharira. These forces arecomposed of very fine elements, so fine thatno amount of injury to this body candestroy them; they survive all the shocksgiven to this body. The gross body we see iscomposed of gross material, and as such itis always being renewed and changingcontinuously. But the internal organs, the

DIFFERENT LAYERS OF PERSONALITY 31

mind, the intellect, and the egoism arecomposed of the finest material, so fine thatthey will endure for aeons and aeons. Theyare so fine that they cannot be resisted byanything; they can get through any obstruc-tion. The gross body is non-intelligent, sois the fine, being composed of fine matter.Although one part is called mind, anotherthe intellect, and the third egoism, yet wesee at a glance that no one of them can bethe “Knower ”. None of them can be theperceiver, the witness, the one for whomaction is made, and who is the seer of theaction. All these movements in the mind,or the faculty of intellection, or egoism,must be for some one else. These beingcomposed of fine matter cannot be self-effulgent. Their luminosity cannot be inthemselves. This manifestation of the table,for instance, cannot be due to any materialthing. Therefore there must be some onebehind them all, who is the real manifester,the real seer, the real enjoyer and He inSanskrit is called the Atman, the Soul ofman, the real Self of man.1


The body is dying every minute. Themind is constantly changing. The body is acombination, and so is the mind, and as suchcan never reach to a state beyond all change.But beyond this momentary sheathing ofgross matter, beyond even the finer coveringof the mind is the Atman, the true Self ofman, the permanent, the ever free. It is hisfreedom that is percolating through layersof thought and matter, and, in spite of thecolourings of name and form, is everasserting its unshackled existence. It is hisdeathlessness, his bliss, his peace, his divinitythat shines out and makes itself felt in spiteof the thickest layers of ignorance. He is thereal man, the fearless one, the deathless one,the free.

Now freedom is only possible when noexternal power can exert any influence,produce any change. Freedom is onlypossible to the being who is beyond allconditions, all laws, all bondages of causeand effect. In other words, the unchangeablealone can be free and, therefore, immortal.This Being, this Atman, this real Self of man,

DIFFERENT LAYERS OF PERSONALITY 33

the free, the unchangeable is beyond allconditions, and as such, it has neither birthnor death.2

Every human personality may be com-pared to a glass globe. There is the same purewhite light—an emission of the divineBeing—in the centre of each, but the glassbeing of different colours and thickness, therays assume diverse aspects in the trans-mission. The equality and beauty of eachcentral flame is the same, and the apparentinequality is only in the imperfection of thetemporal instrument of its expression. As werise higher and higher in the scale of being,the medium becomes more and moretranslucent.3

3

Man Is Divine

CHILDREN OF IMMORTAL BLISS—what asweet, what a hopeful name! Allow me

to call you, brethren, by that sweet name—heirs of immortal bliss—yea, the Hindu refusesto call you sinners. Ye are the Children of God,the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfectbeings. Ye divinities on earth—sinners! It is asin to call a man so; it is a standing libel onhuman nature. Come up, O lions, and shakeoff the delusion that you are sheep; you aresouls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal;ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter isyour servant, not you the servant of matter.1

Even this world, this body and mind aresuperstitions; what infinite souls you are!

MAN IS DIVINE 35

And to be tricked by twinkling stars! It is ashameful condition. You are divinities; thetwinkling stars owe their existence to you.2

Everything that is strong, and good, andpowerful in human nature is the outcome ofthat divinity, and though potential in many,there is no difference between man and manessentially, all being alike divine. There is, asit were, an infinite ocean behind, and you andI are so many waves, coming out of thatinfinite ocean; and each one of us is tryinghis best to manifest that infinite outside. So,potentially, each one of us has that infiniteocean of Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss asour birthright, our real nature; and thedifference between us is caused by the greateror lesser power to manifest that divine.3

This infinite power of the spirit, broughtto bear upon matter evolves materialdevelopment, made to act upon thoughtevolves intellectuality, and made to act uponitself makes of man a God.

Manifest the divinity within you, andeverything will be harmoniously arrangedaround it.4

Pleasure Is Not the Goal

PLEASURE IS NOT THE GOAL of man, butknowledge. Pleasure and happiness

come to an end. It is a mistake to supposethat pleasure is the goal. The cause of all themiseries we have in the world is that menfoolishly think pleasure to be the ideal tostrive for. After a time man finds that it isnot happiness, but knowledge, towardswhich he is going, and that both pleasureand pain are great teachers, and that helearns as much from evil as from good.…Good and evil have an equal share inmoulding character, and in some instancesmisery is a greater teacher than happiness.In studying the great characters the world

PLEASURE IS NOT THE GOAL 37

has produced, I dare say, in the vast majorityof cases, it would be found that it was miserythat taught more than happiness, it waspoverty that taught more than wealth, it wasblows that brought out their inner fire morethan praise.1

Sense-happiness is not the goal of hu-manity. Wisdom (Jnana) is the goal of all life.We find that man enjoys his intellect morethan an animal enjoys its senses; and we seethat man enjoys his spiritual nature evenmore than this rational nature. So the highestwisdom must be this spiritual knowledge.With this knowledge will come bliss. Allthese things of this world are but theshadows, the manifestations in the third orfourth degree of the real Knowledge andBliss.2

Only the fools rush after sense-enjoy-ments. It is easy to live in the senses. It is easierto run in the old groove, eating and drinking;but what these modern philosophers want totell you is to take these comfortable ideas andput the stamp of religion on them. Such adoctrine is dangerous. Death lies in the senses.


Life on the plane of the Spirit is the only life,life on any other plane is mere death; thewhole of this life can be only described as agymnasium. We must go beyond it to enjoyreal life.3

How to Change Our Character?

EVERY WORK THAT WE DO, everymovement of the body, every thought

that we think, leaves such an impressionon the mind-stuff, and even when suchimpressions are not obvious on the surface,they are sufficiently strong to work beneaththe surface, subconsciously. What we areevery moment is determined by the sumtotal of these impressions on the mind. WhatI am just at this moment is the effect of thesum total of all the impressions of my pastlife. This is really what is meant by character;each man’s character is determined by thesum total of these impressions. If goodimpressions prevail, the character becomes


good; if bad, it becomes bad. If a mancontinuously hears bad words, thinks badthoughts, does bad actions, his mind willbe full of bad impressions; and they willinfluence his thought and work without hisbeing conscious of the fact. In fact, thesebad impressions are always working, andtheir resultant must be evil, and that manwill be a bad man; he cannot help it. Thesum total of these impressions in him willcreate the strong motive power for doingbad actions. He will be like a machine inthe hands of his impressions, and they willforce him to do evil. Similarly, if a manthinks good thoughts and does good works,the sum total of these impressions will begood; and they, in a similar manner, willforce him to do good even in spite ofhimself. When a man has done so muchgood work and thought so many goodthoughts that there is an irresistibletendency in him to do good, in spite ofhimself and even if he wishes to do evil, hismind, as the sum total of his tendencies,will not allow him to do so; the tendencies

HOW TO CHANGE OUR CHARACTER? 41

will turn him back; he is completely underthe influence of the good tendencies. Whensuch is the case, a man’s good character issaid to be established.1

If you really want to judge of thecharacter of a man, look not at his greatperformances. Every fool may become a heroat one time or another. Watch a man do hismost common actions; those are indeed thethings which will tell you the real characterof a great man. Great occasions rouse eventhe lowest of human beings to some kind ofgreatness, but he alone is the really great manwhose character is great always, the samewherever he be.2

All the actions that we see in the world,all the movements in human society, all theworks that we have around us, are simplythe display of thought, the manifestation ofthe will of man. Machines or instruments,cities, ships, or men-of-war, all these aresimply the manifestation of the will of man;and this will is caused by character, andcharacter is manufactured by Karma. As isKarma, so is the manifestation of the will.


The men of mighty will the world hasproduced have all been tremendous work-ers—gigantic souls, with wills powerfulenough to overturn worlds, wills they gotby persistent work, through ages, and ages.3

We are what our thoughts have madeus; so take care of what you think. Wordsare secondary. Thoughts live, they travel far.Each thought we think is tinged with ourown character, so that for the pure and holyman, even his jests or abuse will have thetwist of his own love and purity and dogood.4

Great work requires great and persistenteffort for a long time. Neither need we troubleourselves if a few fail. It is in the nature ofthings that many should fall, that troublesshould come, that tremendous difficultiesshould arise, that selfishness and all the otherdevils in the human heart should strugglehard when they are about to be driven outby the fire of spirituality. The road to the Goodis the roughest and steepest in the universe.It is a wonder that so many succeed, no

HOW TO CHANGE OUR CHARACTER? 43

wonder that so many fall. Character has tobe established through a thousand stumbles.5

The mind, to have non-attachment,must be clear, good, and rational. Whyshould we practise? Because each action islike the pulsations quivering over the surfaceof the lake. The vibration dies out, and whatis left? The samskaras, the impressions. Whena large number of these impressions are lefton the mind, they coalesce and become ahabit. It is said, “Habit is second nature”, itis first nature also, and the whole nature ofman; everything that we are is the result ofhabit. That gives us consolation, because, ifit is only habit, we can make and unmake itat any time. The samskaras are left by thesevibrations passing out of our mind, each oneof them leaving its result. Our character isthe sum-total of these marks, and accordingas some particular wave prevails one takesthat tone. If good prevails, one becomesgood; if wickedness, one becomes wicked; ifjoyfulness, one becomes happy. The onlyremedy for bad habits is counter habits; allthe bad habits that have left their impressions


are to be controlled by good habits. Go ondoing good, thinking holy thoughts con-tinuously; that is the only way to suppressbase impressions. Never say any man ishopeless, because he only represents acharacter, a bundle of habits, which can bechecked by new and better ones. Characteris repeated habits, and repeated habits alonecan reform character.6

Give up, renounce the world. Now weare like dogs strayed into a kitchen and eatinga piece of meat, looking round in fear lest atany moment some one may come and drivethem out. Instead of that, be a king and knowyou own the world. This never comes untilyou give it up and it ceases to bind. Give upmentally, if you do not physically. Give upfrom the heart of your hearts. Have vairagya(renunciation). This is the real sacrifice, andwithout it, it is impossible to attain spirit-uality. Do not desire, for what you desireyou get, and with it comes terrible bondage.7

Influence of Thought

JUST AS EVERY ACTION that emanates fromus comes back to us as reaction, even so

our actions may act on other people andtheirs on us. Perhaps all of you have observedit as a fact that when persons do evil actions,they become more and more evil, and whenthey begin to do good, they become strongerand stronger and learn to do good at alltimes. This intensification of the influenceof action cannot be explained on any otherground than that we can act and react uponeach other. To take an illustration fromphysical science, when I am doing a certainaction, my mind may be said to be in acertain state of vibration; all minds which


are in similar circumstances will have thetendency to be affected by my mind. If thereare different musical instruments tuned alikein one room, all of you may have noticedthat when one is struck, the others have thetendency to vibrate so as to give the samenote. So all minds that have the same tension,so to say, will be equally affected by the samethought. Of course, this influence of thoughton mind will vary according to distance andother causes, but the mind is always open toaffection. Suppose I am doing an evil act,my mind is in a certain state of vibration,and all minds in the universe, which are in asimilar state, have the possibility of beingaffected by the vibration of my mind. So,when I am doing a good action, my mind isin another state of vibration; and all mindssimilarly strung have the possibility of beingaffected by my mind; and this power of mindupon mind is more or less according as theforce of the tension is greater or less.1

Following this simile further, it is quitepossible that, just as light waves may travelfor millions of years before they reach any

INFLUENCE OF THOUGHT 47

object, so thought waves may also travelhundreds of years before they meet an objectwith which they vibrate in unison. It is quitepossible, therefore, that this atmosphere ofours is full of such thought pulsations, bothgood and evil. Every thought projected fromevery brain goes on pulsating, as it were,until it meets a fit object that will receive it.Any mind which is open to receive some ofthese impulses will take them immediately.So, when a man is doing evil actions, he hasbrought his mind to a certain state of tensionand all the waves which correspond to thatstate of tension, and which may be said tobe already in the atmosphere, will struggleto enter into his mind. That is why an evil-doer generally goes on doing more and moreevil. His actions become intensified. Suchalso will be the case with the doer of good;he will open himself to all the good wavesthat are in the atmosphere, and his goodactions also will become intensified. We run,therefore, a twofold danger in doing evil:first, we open ourselves to all the evilinfluences surrounding us; secondly, we


create evil which affects others, may behundreds of years hence. In doing evil weinjure ourselves and others also. In doinggood we do good to ourselves and to othersas well; and, like all other forces in man, theseforces of good and evil also gather strengthfrom outside.2

Fill yourselves with the idea; whateveryou do, think well on it. All your actions willbe magnified, transformed, deified, by thevery power of the thought. If matter ispowerful, thought is omnipotent. Bring thisthought to bear upon your life, fill yourselveswith the thought of your almightiness, yourmajesty, and your glory. Would to God nosuperstitions had been put into your head!Would to God we had not been surroundedfrom our birth by all these superstitiousinfluences and paralysing ideas of ourweakness and vileness! Would to God thatmankind had had an easier path throughwhich to attain to the noblest and highesttruths! But man had to pass through all this;do not make the path more difficult for thosewho are coming after you.3

Control Your NegativeEmotions

WE MUST HAVE THESE four sorts of ideas.We must have friendship for all; we

must be merciful towards those that are inmisery; when people are happy, we ought tobe happy; and to the wicked we must beindifferent. So with all subjects that comebefore us. If the subject is a good one, we shallfeel friendly towards it; if the subject ofthought is one that is miserable, we must bemerciful towards it. If it is good, we must beglad; if it is evil, we must be indifferent. Theseattitudes of the mind towards the differentsubjects that come before it will make the mind

4


peaceful. Most of our difficulties in our dailylives come from being unable to hold ourminds in this way. For instance, if a man doesevil to us, instantly we want to react evil, andevery reaction of evil shows that we are notable to hold the chitta down; it comes out inwaves towards the object, and we lose ourpower. Every reaction in the form of hatredor evil is so much loss to the mind; and everyevil thought or deed of hatred, or any thoughtof reaction, if it is controlled, will be laid inour favour. It is not that we lose by thusrestraining ourselves; we are gaining infinitelymore than we suspect. Each time we suppresshatred, or a feeling of anger, it is so much goodenergy stored up in our favour; that piece ofenergy will be converted into the higherpowers.1

Every vicious thought will rebound,every thought of hatred which you may havethought, in a cave even, is stored up, andwill one day come back to you with tre-mendous power in the form of some miseryhere. If you project hatred and jealousy, theywill rebound on you with compound

CONTROL YOUR NEGATIVE EMOTIONS 51

interest. No power can avert them; whenonce you have put them in motion, you willhave to bear them. Remembering this willprevent you from doing wicked things.2

I may remark that this idea explains theethical theory that you must not hate, andmust love. Because, just as in the case ofelectricity the modern theory is that thepower leaves the dynamo and completes thecircle back to the dynamo, so with hate andlove; they must come back to the source.Therefore do not hate anybody, because thathatred which comes out from you, must, inthe long run, come back to you. If you love,that love will come back to you, completingthe circle. It is as certain as can be, that everybit of hatred that goes out of the heart of aman comes back to him in full force, nothingcan stop it; similarly every impulse of lovecomes back to him.3

The great secret is—absence of jealousy.Be always ready to concede to the opinionsof your brethren, and try always to conciliate.That is the whole secret. Fight on bravely! Lifeis short! Give it up to a great cause.4

Change Yourself First

WE HAVE SEEN THAT it is the subjectiveworld that rules the objective. Change

the subject, and the object is bound tochange; purify yourself, and the world isbound to be purified. This one thing requiresto be taught now more than ever before. Weare becoming more and more busy about ourneighbours, and less and less about our-selves. The world will change if we change;if we are pure, the world will become pure.The question is why I should see evil inothers. I cannot see evil unless I be evil. Icannot be miserable unless I am weak. Thingsthat used to make me miserable when I wasa child, do not do so now. The subject

CHANGE YOURSELF FIRST 53

changed, so the object was bound to change;so says the Vedanta.1

Thus the man that has practised controlover himself cannot be acted upon byanything outside; there is no more slaveryfor him. His mind has become free. Such aman alone is fit to live well in the world. Wegenerally find men holding two opinionsregarding the world. Some are pessimists andsay, “How horrible this world is, howwicked!” Some others are optimists and say,“How beautiful this world is, how won-derful!” To those who have not controlledtheir own minds, the world is either full ofevil or at best a mixture of good and evil.This very world will become to us anoptimistic world when we become mastersof our own minds. Nothing will then workupon us as good or evil; we shall findeverything to be in its proper place, to beharmonious.2

The more we grow in love and virtueand holiness, the more we see love and virtueand holiness outside. All condemnation ofothers really condemns ourselves. Adjust the


microcosm (which is in your power to do)and the macrocosm will adjust itself for you.It is like the hydrostatic paradox, one drop ofwater can balance the universe. We cannotsee outside what we are not inside. Theuniverse is to us what the huge engine is tothe miniature engine; and indication of anyerror in the tiny engine leads us to imaginetrouble in the huge one.

Every step that has been really gainedin the world has been gained by love;criticising can never do any good, it has beentried for thousands of years. Condemnationaccomplishes nothing.3

Take the Whole Responsibilityon Yourself

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR what we are;and whatever we wish ourselves to be,

we have the power to make ourselves. Ifwhat we are now has been the result of ourown past actions, it certainly follows thatwhatever we wish to be in future can beproduced by our present actions; so we haveto know how to act.1

We get only that for which we are fitted.Let us give up our pride and understand this,that never is misery undeserved. There neverhas been a blow undeserved; there never hasbeen an evil for which I did not pave the


way with my own hands. We ought to knowthat. Analyse yourselves and you will findthat every blow you have received, came toyou because you prepared yourselves for it.You did half, and the external world did theother half; that is how the blow came. Thatwill sober us down. At the same time, fromthis very analysis will come a note of hope,and the note of hope is: “I have no controlof the external world, but that which is inme and nearer unto me, my own world, isin my control. If the two together arerequired to make a failure, if the two togetherare necessary to give me a blow, I will notcontribute the one which is in my keeping;and how then can the blow come? If I getreal control of myself, the blow will nevercome.”2

Nothing makes us work so well at ourbest and highest as when all responsibility isthrown upon ourselves. I challenge everyoneof you. How will you behave if I put a littlebaby in your hands? Your whole life will bechanged for the moment; whatever you maybe, you must become selfless for the time

TAKE THE WHOLE RESPONSIBILITY ON YOURSELF 57

being. You will give up all your criminal ideasas soon as responsibility is thrown uponyou—your whole character will change. Soif the whole responsibility is thrown uponour own shoulders, we shall be at our highestand best; when we have nobody to gropetowards, no devil to lay our blame upon, noPersonal God to carry our burdens, whenwe are alone responsible, then we shall riseto our highest and best. I am responsible formy fate, I am the bringer of good unto myself,I am the bringer of evil.3

This life is a hard fact; work your waythrough it boldly, though it may be adaman-tine; no matter, the soul is stronger. It laysno responsibility on little gods; for you arethe makers of your own fortunes. You makeyourselves suffer, you make good and evil,and it is you who put your hands before youreyes and say it is dark. Take your hands awayand see the light; you are effulgent, you areperfect already, from the very beginning.4

This is the only solution of the problem.Those that blame others—and, alas! thenumber of them is increasing every day—


are generally miserable with helpless brains;they have brought themselves to that passthrough their own mistakes and blameothers, but this does not alter their position.It does not serve them in any way. Thisattempt to throw the blame upon others onlyweakens them the more. Therefore, blamenone for your own faults, stand upon yourown feet, and take the whole responsibilityupon yourselves. Say, “This misery that I amsuffering is of my own doing, and that verything proves that it will have to be undoneby me alone.” That which I created, I candemolish; that which is created by some oneelse I shall never be able to destroy. Therefore,stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the wholeresponsibility on your own shoulders, andknow that you are the creator of your owndestiny. All the strength and succour youwant is within yourselves. Therefore, makeyour own future. “Let the dead past bury itsdead.” The infinite future is before you, andyou must always remember that each word,thought, and deed, lays up a store for youand that as the bad thoughts and bad works

TAKE THE WHOLE RESPONSIBILITY ON YOURSELF 59

are ready to spring upon you like tigers, soalso there is the inspiring hope that the goodthoughts and good deeds are ready with thepower of a hundred thousand angels todefend you always and for ever.5

How to Work?

WORK FOR WORK’S SAKE. There are somewho are really the salt of the earth in

every country and who work for work’ssake, who do not care for name, or fame, oreven to go to heaven. They work just becausegood will come of it. There are others whodo good to the poor and help mankind fromstill higher motives, because they believe indoing good and love good. The motive forname and fame seldom brings immediateresults, as a rule; they come to us when weare old and have almost done with life.

If a man works without any selfishmotive in view, does he not gain anything?Yes, he gains the highest. Unselfishness is

HOW TO WORK? 61

more paying, only people have not thepatience to practise it. It is more paying fromthe point of view of health also. Love, truthand unselfishness are not merely moralfigures of speech, but they form our highestideal, because in them lies such a mani-festation of power.1

Real activity, which is the goal ofVedanta, is combined with eternal calmness,the calmness which cannot be ruffled, thebalance of mind which is never disturbed,whatever happens. And we all know fromour experience in life that that is the bestattitude for work.

I have been asked many times how wecan work if we do not have the passion whichwe generally feel for work. I also thought inthat way years ago, but as I am growing older,getting more experience, I find it is not true.The less passion there is, the better we work.The calmer we are, the better for us, and themore the amount of work we can do. Whenwe let loose our feelings, we waste so muchenergy, shatter our nerves, disturb our minds,and accomplish very little work. The energy


which ought to have gone out as work is spentas mere feeling, which counts for nothing. Itis only when the mind is very calm andcollected that the whole of its energy is spentin doing good work. And if you read the livesof the great workers which the world hasproduced, you will find that they werewonderfully calm men. Nothing, as it were,could throw them off their balance. That iswhy the man who becomes angry never doesa great amount of work, and the man whomnothing can make angry accomplishes somuch. The man who gives way to anger, orhatred, or any other passion, cannot work;he only breaks himself to pieces, and doesnothing practical. It is the calm, forgiving,equable, well-balanced mind that does thegreatest amount of work.2

You will say, “What is the use of learninghow to work? Everyone works in some wayor other in this world.” But there is such athing as frittering away our energies. Withregard to Karma-Yoga, the Gita says that it isdoing work with cleverness and as a science;by knowing how to work, one can obtain

HOW TO WORK? 63

the greatest results. You must remember thatall work is simply to bring out the power ofthe mind which is already there, to wake upthe soul. The power is inside every man, sois knowing; the different works are likeblows to bring them out, to cause these giantsto wake up.3

Inactivity should be avoided by allmeans. Activity always means resistance.Resist all evils, mental and physical; andwhen you have succeeded in resisting, thenwill calmness come. It is very easy to say,“Hate nobody, resist not evil,” but we knowwhat that kind of thing generally means inpractice. When the eyes of society areturned towards us, we may make a showof non-resistance, but in our hearts it iscanker all the time. We feel the utter wantof the calm of non-resistance; we feel thatit would be better for us to resist. If youdesire wealth, and know at the same timethat the whole world regards him who aimsat wealth as a very wicked man, you,perhaps, will not dare to plunge into thestruggle for wealth, yet your mind will be


running day and night after money. This ishypocrisy and will serve no purpose. Plungeinto the world, and then, after a time, whenyou have suffered and enjoyed all that is init, will renunciation come; then willcalmness come.4

He who always speculates as to whatawaits him in future, accomplishes nothingwhatsoever. What you have understood astrue and good, just do that at once. What’sthe good of calculating what may or maynot befall in future? The span of life is so,so short—and can anything be accom-plished in it if you go on forecasting andcomputing results. God is the only dis-penser of results; leave it to Him to do allthat. What have you got to do with it? Don’tlook that way, but go on working.5

It is the worker who is attached toresults that grumbles about the nature ofthe duty which has fallen to his lot; to theunattached worker all duties are equallygood, and form efficient instruments withwhich selfishness and sensuality may bekilled, and the freedom of the soul secured.

HOW TO WORK? 65

We are all apt to think too highly ofourselves. Our duties are determined by ourdeserts to a much larger extent than we arewilling to grant. Competition rouses envy,and it kills the kindliness of the heart. Tothe grumbler all duties are distasteful;nothing will ever satisfy him, and his wholelife is doomed to prove a failure. Let us workon, doing as we go whatever happens to beour duty, and being ever ready to put ourshoulders to the wheel. Then surely shallwe see the Light!6

So work, says the Vedanta, putting Godin everything, and knowing Him to be ineverything. Work incessantly, holding life assomething deified, as God Himself, andknowing that this is all we have to do, this isall we should ask for. God is in everything,where else shall we go to find Him? He isalready in every work, in every thought, inevery feeling. Thus knowing, we mustwork—this is the only way, there is no other.Thus the effects of work will not bind us.We have seen how false desires are the causeof all the misery and evil we suffer, but when


they are thus deified, purified, through God,they bring no evil, they bring no misery.Those who have not learnt this secret willhave to live in a demoniacal world until theydiscover it. Many do not know what aninfinite mine of bliss is in them, around them,everywhere; they have not yet discoveredit. What is a demoniacal world? The Vedantasays, ignorance.7

Even the greatest fool can accomplish atask if it be after his heart. But the intelligentman is he who can convert every work intoone that suits his taste. No work is petty.Everything in this world is like a banyan-seed, which, though appearing tiny as amustard-seed, has yet the gigantic banyantree latent within it. He indeed is intelligentwho notices this and succeeds in making allwork truly great.8

Duty of any kind is not to be slighted.A man who does the lower work is not, forthat reason only, a lower man than he whodoes the higher work; a man should not bejudged by the nature of his duties, but bythe manner in which he does them. His5

HOW TO WORK? 67

manner of doing them and his power to dothem are indeed the test of a man. Ashoemaker who can turn out a strong, nicepair of shoes in the shortest possible time isa better man, according to his profession andhis work, than a professor who talksnonsense every day of his life.

Every duty is holy, and devotion to dutyis the highest form of the worship of God; itis certainly a source of great help inenlightening and emancipating the deludedand ignorance-encumbered souls of theBaddhas—the bound ones.

By doing well the duty which is nearestto us, the duty which is in our hands now,we make ourselves stronger; and improvingour strength in this manner step by step, wemay even reach a state in which it shall beour privilege to do the most coveted andhonoured duties in life and in society.9

Work Like a Master

THE WHOLE GIST OF THIS teaching is thatyou should work like a master and not

as a slave; work incessantly, but do not doslave’s work. Do you not see how everybodyworks? Nobody can be altogether at rest;ninety-nine per cent of mankind work likeslaves, and the result is misery; it is all selfishwork. Work through freedom! Work throu-gh love! The word “love” is very difficult tounderstand; love never comes until there isfreedom. There is no true love possible inthe slave. If you buy a slave and tie him downin chains and make him work for you, hewill work like a drudge, but there will be nolove in him. So when we ourselves work for

WORK LIKE A MASTER 69

the things of the world as slaves, there canbe no love in us, and our work is not truework. This is true of work done for relativesand friends, and is true of work done forour own selves. Selfish work is slave’s work;and here is a test. Every act of love bringshappiness; there is no act of love which doesnot bring peace and blessedness as itsreaction.1

The man who works through freedomand love cares nothing for results. But theslave wants his whipping; the servant wantshis pay. So with all life; take for instance thepublic life. The public speaker wants a littleapplause or a little hissing and hooting. Ifyou keep him in a corner without it, you killhim, for he requires it. This is workingthrough slavery. To expect something inreturn, under such conditions, becomessecond nature. Next comes the work of theservant, who requires some pay; I give this,and you give me that. Nothing is easier tosay, “I work for work’s sake”, but nothing isso difficult to attain.2


We must work. Ordinary mankind,driven everywhere by false desire, what dothey know of work? The man propelled byhis own feelings and his own senses, whatdoes he know about work? He works, whois not propelled by his own desires, by anyselfishness whatsoever. He works, who hasno ulterior motive in view. He works, whohas nothing to gain from work.3

Doing Good to This World

OUR DUTY TO OTHERS means helpingothers; doing good to the world. Why

should we do good to the world? Apparentlyto help the world, but really to helpourselves. We should always try to help theworld, that should be the highest motive inus; but if we consider well, we find that theworld does not require our help at all. Thisworld was not made that you or I shouldcome and help it. I once read a sermon inwhich it was said, “All this beautiful world isvery good, because it gives us time andopportunity to help others.” Apparently, thisis a very beautiful sentiment, but is it not ablasphemy to say that the world needs our


help? We cannot deny that there is muchmisery in it; to go out and help others is,therefore, the best thing we can do, althoughin the long run, we shall find that helpingothers is only helping ourselves.1

Yet we must do good; the desire to dogood is the highest motive power we have,if we know all the time that it is a privilegeto help others. Do not stand on a highpedestal and take five cents in your handand say, “Here, my poor man,” but be gratefulthat the poor man is there, so that by makinga gift to him you are able to help yourself. Itis not the receiver that is blessed, but it isthe giver. Be thankful that you are allowedto exercise your power of benevolence andmercy in the world, and thus become pureand perfect.2

We become forgetful of the ego whenwe think of the body as dedicated to theservice of others—the body with which mostcomplacently we identify the ego. And in thelong run comes the consciousness ofdisembodiedness. The more intently youthink of the well-being of others, the more

DOING GOOD TO THIS WORLD 73

oblivious of self you become. In this way, asgradually your heart gets purified by work,you will come to feel the truth that your ownSelf is pervading all beings and all things.Thus it is that doing good to others con-stitutes a way, a means of revealing one’sown Self or Atman. Know this also to be oneof the spiritual practices, a discipline forGod-realisation. Its aim also is Self-rea-lisation.3

When you give something to a man andexpect nothing—do not even expect the manto be grateful—his ingratitude will not tellupon you, because you never expectedanything, never thought you had any rightto anything in the way of a return. You gavehim what he deserved; his own Karma got itfor him; your Karma made you the carrierthereof. Why should you be proud of havinggiven away something? You are the porterthat carried the money or other kind of gift,and the world deserved it by its own Karma.Where is then the reason for pride in you?There is nothing very great in what you giveto the world.4


Ask nothing; want nothing in return.Give what you have to give; it will come backto you—but do not think of that now, it willcome back multiplied a thousandfold—butthe attention must not be on that. Yet havethe power to give; give, and there it ends.Learn that the whole of life is giving, thatnature will force you to give. So, givewillingly. Sooner or later you will have togive up. You come into life to accumulate.With clenched hands, you want to take. Butnature puts a hand on your throat and makesyour hands open. Whether you will it or not,you have to give. The moment you say, “Iwill not”, the blow comes; you are hurt.None is there but will be compelled, in thelong run, to give up everything. And themore one struggles against this law, the moremiserable one feels. It is because we dare notgive, because we are not resigned enough toaccede to this grand demand of nature, thatwe are miserable. The forest is gone, but weget heat in return. The sun is taking up waterfrom the ocean, to return it in showers. Youare a machine for taking and giving: you take,

DOING GOOD TO THIS WORLD 75

in order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing inreturn; but the more you give, the more willcome to you. The quicker you can empty theair out of this room, the quicker it will befilled up by the external air; and if you closeall the doors and every aperture, that whichis within will remain, but that which isoutside will never come in, and that whichis within will stagnate, degenerate, andbecome poisoned. A river is continuallyemptying itself into the ocean and iscontinually filling up again. Bar not the exitinto the ocean. The moment you do that,death seizes you.5

Wisdom, knowledge, wealth, men,strength, prowess, and whatever else naturegathers and provides us with, are all onlyfor diffusion, when the moment of need isat hand. We often forget this fact, put thestamp of “mine only” upon the entrusteddeposits, and pari passu, we sow the seed ofour own ruin!6

Unselfishness Will BringSuccess

ALL OUTGOING ENERGY following a selfishmotive is frittered away; it will not cause

power to return to you; but if restrained, itwill result in development of power. Thisself-control will tend to produce a mightywill, a character which makes a Christ or aBuddha. Foolish men do not know thissecret; they nevertheless want to rulemankind. Even a fool may rule the wholeworld if he works and waits. Let him wait afew years, restrain that foolish idea ofgoverning; and when that idea is whollygone, he will be a power in the world. The

UNSELFISHNESS WILL BRING SUCCESS 77

majority of us cannot see beyond a fewyears…. Just a little narrow circle—that isour world. We have not the patience to lookbeyond, and thus become immoral andwicked. This is our weakness, our power-lessness.1

Selfishness is the chief sin, thinking ofourselves first. He who thinks, “I will eat first,I will have more money than others, and Iwill possess everything”, he who thinks, “Iwill get to heaven before others, I will getMukti before others” is the selfish man. Theunselfish man says, “I will be last, I do notcare to go to heaven, I will even go to hell ifby doing so I can help my brothers.” Thisunselfishness is the test of religion. He whohas more of this unselfishness is morespiritual and nearer to God. Whether he islearned or ignorant, he is nearer to God thananybody else, whether he knows it or not.And if a man is selfish, even though he hasvisited all the temples, seen all the places ofpilgrimage, and painted himself like aleopard, he is still further off from God.2


Every successful man must have behindhim somewhere tremendous integrity, tre-mendous sincerity, and that is the cause ofhis signal success in life. He may not havebeen perfectly unselfish; yet he was tendingtowards it. If he had been perfectly unselfish,his would have been as great a success asthat of the Buddha or of the Christ. Thedegree of unselfishness marks the degree ofsuccess everywhere.3

Life is ever expanding, contraction isdeath. The self-seeking man who is lookingafter his personal comforts and leading a lazylife—there is no room for him even in hell.4

It Is Love That Pays

NOTHING ELSE IS NECESSARY but these—love, sincerity, and patience. What is

life but growth, i.e. expansion, i.e. love?Therefore all love is life, it is the only lawof life; all selfishness is death, and this istrue here or hereafter. It is life to do good,it is death not to do good to others. Ninetyper cent of human brutes you see are dead,are ghosts—for none lives, my boys, buthe who loves. Feel, my children, feel; feelfor the poor, the ignorant, the down-trodden; feel till the heart stops and thebrain reels and you think you will gomad—then pour the soul out at the feet ofthe Lord, and then will come power, help,


and indomitable energy…Be not afraid, mychildren. Look not up in that attitude offear towards that infinite starry vault as ifit would crush you. Wait! In a few hoursmore, the whole of it will be under yourfeet. Wait, money does not pay, nor name;fame does not pay, nor learning. It is lovethat pays; it is character that cleaves its waythrough adamantine walls of difficulties.1

Those who are men and yet have nofeeling in the heart for man, well, are suchto be counted as men at all?2

Duty is seldom sweet. It is only whenlove greases its wheels that it runs smoothly;it is a continuous friction otherwise. Howelse could parents do their duties to theirchildren, husbands to their wives, and viceversa? Do we not meet with cases of frictionevery day in our lives? Duty is sweet onlythrough love, and love shines in freedomalone. Yet is it freedom to be a slave to thesenses, to anger, to jealousies and a hundredother petty things that must occur every dayin human life? In all these little roughnessesthat we meet with in life, the highest

IT IS LOVE THAT PAYS 81

expression of freedom is to forbear. Women,slaves to their own irritable, jealous tempers,are apt to blame their husbands, and asserttheir own “freedom”, as they think, notknowing that thereby they only prove thatthey are slaves. So it is with husbands whoeternally find fault with their wives.3

Love never fails, my son; today or to-morrow or ages after, truth will conquer.Love shall win the victory. Do you love yourfellow-men? Where should you go to seekfor God—are not all the poor, the miserable,the weak, Gods? Why not worship themfirst? Why go to dig a well on the shores ofthe Ganga? Believe in the omnipotent powerof love. Who cares for these tinsel puffs ofname? I never keep watch of what thenewspapers are saying. Have you love?—You are omnipotent. Are you perfectly un-selfish? If so, you are irresistible. It ischaracter that pays everywhere. It is theLord who protects His children in the depthsof the sea.4

The individual’s life is in the life of thewhole, the individual’s happiness is in the


happiness of the whole; apart from thewhole, the individual’s existence is in-conceivable—this is an eternal truth and isthe bed-rock on which the universe is built.To move slowly towards the infinite whole,bearing a constant feeling of intense sym-pathy and sameness with it, being happywith its happiness and being distressed inits affliction, is the individual’s sole duty. Notonly is it his duty, but in its transgression ishis death, while compliance with this greattruth leads to life immortal.5

If in this hell of a world one can bring alittle joy and peace even for a day into theheart of a single person, that much alone istrue; this I have learnt after suffering all mylife; all else is mere moonshine….6

6

Weakness Is Death

THE WEAK HAVE NO place here, in this lifeor in any other life. Weakness leads to

slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds ofmisery, physical and mental. Weakness isdeath. There are hundreds of thousandsof microbes surrounding us, but theycannot harm us unless we become weak,until the body is ready and predisposed toreceive them. There may be a millionmicrobes of misery, floating about us.Never mind! They dare not approach us,they have no power to get a hold on us,until the mind is weakened. This is thegreat fact: strength is life, weakness isdeath. Strength is felicity, life eternal,


immortal; weakness is constant strain andmisery; weakness is death.1

See how we are flying like hunted haresfrom all that is terrible, and like them, hidingour heads and thinking we are safe. See howthe whole world is flying from everythingterrible. Once when I was in Varanasi, I waspassing through a place where there was alarge tank of water on one side and a highwall on the other. It was in the groundswhere there were many monkeys. Themonkeys of Varanasi are huge brutes and aresometimes surly. They now took it into theirheads not to allow me to pass through theirstreet, so they howled and shrieked andclutched at my feet as I passed. As theypressed closer, I began to run, but the fasterI ran, the faster came the monkeys and theybegan to bite at me. It seemed impossible toescape, but just then I met a stranger whocalled out to me, “Face the brutes.” I turnedand faced the monkeys, and they fell backand finally fled. That is a lesson for all life—face the terrible, face it boldly. Like themonkeys, the hardships of life fall back when

WEAKNESS IS DEATH 85

we cease to flee before them. If we are everto gain freedom, it must be by conqueringnature, never by running away. Cowardsnever win victories. We have to fight fearand troubles and ignorance if we expectthem to flee before us.2

Strength, strength it is that we want somuch in this life, for what we call sin andsorrow have all one cause, and that is ourweakness. With weakness comes ignorance,and with ignorance comes misery. It willmake us strong. Then miseries will belaughed at, then the violence of the vile willbe smiled at, and the ferocious tiger willreveal, behind its tiger ’s nature, my ownSelf.3

Be strong, my young friends; that is myadvice to you. You will be nearer to Heaventhrough football than through the study ofthe Gita. These are bold words; but I have tosay them, for I love you. I know where theshoe pinches. I have gained a little ex-perience. You will understand the Gita betterwith your biceps, your muscles, a littlestronger. You will understand the mighty


genius and the mighty strength of Krishnabetter with a little of strong blood in you.You will understand the Upanishads betterand the glory of the Atman when your bodystands firm upon your feet, and you feelyourselves as men.4

Do not talk of the wickedness of theworld and all its sins. Weep that you arebound to see wickedness yet. Weep that youare bound to see sin everywhere, and if youwant to help the world, do not condemn it.Do not weaken it more. For what is sin andwhat is misery, and what are all these, butthe results of weakness? The world is madeweaker and weaker every day by suchteachings. Men are taught from childhoodthat they are weak and sinners. Teach themthat they are all glorious children ofimmortality, even those who are the weakestin manifestation. Let positive, strong, helpfulthought enter into their brains from verychildhood. Lay yourselves open to thesethoughts, and not to weakening and para-lysing ones. Say to your own minds, “I amHe. I am He.” Let it ring day and night in

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your minds like a song, and at the point ofdeath declare, “I am He.” That is the Truth;the infinite strength of the world is yours.Drive out the superstition that has coveredyour minds. Let us be brave. Know the Truthand practise the Truth. The goal may bedistant, but awake, arise, and stop not tillthe goal is reached.5

Weak men, when they lose everythingand feel themselves weak, try all sorts ofuncanny methods of making money, andcome to astrology and all these things. “It isthe coward and the fool who says, ‘This isfate’”—so says the Sanskrit proverb. But itis the strong man who stands up and says,“I will make my fate.” It is people who aregetting old who talk of fate. Young mengenerally do not come to astrology. We maybe under planetary influence, but it shouldnot matter much to us.…

Let stars come, what harm is there? If astar disturbs my life, it would not be wortha cent. You will find that astrology and allthese mystical things are generally signs of aweak mind; therefore as soon as they are


becoming prominent in our minds, weshould see a physician, take good food andrest.6

This I lay down as the first essential inall I teach: anything that brings spiritual,mental, or physical weakness, touch it notwith the toes of your feet. Religion is themanifestation of the natural strength that isin man. A spring of infinite power is coiledup and is inside this little body, and thatspring is spreading itself. And as it goes onspreading, body after body is found in-sufficient; it throws them off and takeshigher bodies. This is the history of man, ofreligion, civilisation, or progress. That giantPrometheus, who is bound, is getting himselfunbound. It is always a manifestation ofstrength, and all these ideas such as astro-logy, although there may be a grain of truthin them, should be avoided.7

Be Brave

I ONCE READ A STORY about some ships thatwere caught in a cyclone in the South Sea

Islands, and there was a picture of it in theIllustrated London News. All of them werewrecked except one English vessel, whichweathered the storm. The picture showedthe men who were going to be drowned,standing on the decks and cheering thepeople who were sailing through the storm.Be brave and generous like that.1

Whenever darkness comes, assert thereality and everything adverse must vanish.For, after all, it is but a dream. Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terribleand gloomy though all things seem, they are


but delusions. Fear not—it is banished. Crushit, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.Be not afraid. Think not how many timesyou fail. Never mind. Time is infinite. Goforward; assert yourself again and again, andlight must come. You may pray to everyonethat was ever born, but who will come tohelp you? And what of the way of death fromwhich none knows escape? Help thyself outby thyself. None else can help thee, friend.For thou alone art thy greatest enemy, thoualone art thy greatest friend. Get hold of theSelf, then. Stand up. Don’t be afraid.2

Go on bravely. Do not expect success ina day or a year. Always hold on to the highest.Be steady. Avoid jealousy and selfishness. Beobedient and eternally faithful to the causeof truth, humanity, and your country, andyou will move the world. Remember it is theperson, the life, which is the secret ofpower—nothing else.…Jealousy is the baneof all slaves. It is the bane of our nation.Avoid that always. All blessings attend youand all success.3

Heroism

BE A MAN FIRST, my friend, and you willsee how all those things and the rest will

follow of themselves after you. Give up thathateful malice, that dog-like bickering andbarking at one another, and take your standon good purpose, right means, righteouscourage, and be brave. When you are born aman, leave some indelible mark behind you.“When you first came to this world, O Tulsi,1

the world rejoiced and you cried; now live

1 A poet and a devotee—the author of the Ram-charitmanasa. Here the poet is addressing himself.


your life in doing such acts that when youwill leave this world, the world will cry foryou and you will leave it laughing.” If youcan do that, then you are a man; otherwise,what good are you?1

Let the world say what it chooses, I shalltread the path of duty—know this to be theline of action for a hero. Otherwise, if onehas to attend day and night to what this mansays or that man writes, no great work isachieved in this world. Do you know thisSanskrit Shloka: “Let those who are versedin the ethical codes praise or blame, letLakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, come orgo wherever she wisheth, let death overtakehim today or after a century, the wise mannever swerves from the path of rectitude.”Let people praise you or blame you, letfortune smile or frown upon you, let yourbody fall today or after a Yuga, see that youdo not deviate from the path of Truth. Howmuch of tempest and waves one has toweather, before one reaches the haven ofPeace! The greater a man has become, thefiercer ordeal he has had to pass through.

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Their lives have been tested true by thetouchstone of practical life, and only thenhave they been acknowledged great by theworld. Those who are faint-hearted and co-wardly sink their barks near the shore,frightened by the raging of waves on the sea.He who is a hero never casts a glance atthese. Come what may, I must attain my idealfirst—this is Purushakara, manly endeavour;without such manly endeavour no amountof Divine help will be of any avail to banishyour inertia.2

Those who are always down-heartedand dispirited in this life can do no work;from life to life they come and go wailingand moaning. “The earth is enjoyed byheroes”—this is the unfailing truth. Be ahero. Always say, “I have no fear.” Tell thisto everybody—”Have no fear ”. Fear isdeath, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear isunrighteousness, fear is wrong life. All thenegative thoughts and ideas that are in thisworld have proceeded from this evil spiritof fear. This fear alone has kept the sun,air and death in their respective places and


functions, allowing none to escape fromtheir bounds....

In this embodied existence, you will betossed again and again on the waves ofhappiness and misery, prosperity and ad-versity—but know them all to be of momen-tary duration. Never care for them.3

Faith in Oneself

THE IDEAL OF FAITH IN ourselves is of thegreatest help to us. If faith in ourselves

had been more extensively taught andpractised, I am sure a very large portion ofthe evils and miseries that we have wouldhave vanished. Throughout the history ofmankind, if any motive power has beenmore potent than another in the lives of allgreat men and women, it is that of faith inthemselves. Born with the consciousnessthat they were to be great, they becamegreat. Let a man go down as low as possible;there must come a time when out of sheerdesperation he will take an upward curveand will learn to have faith in himself. But


it is better for us that we should know itfrom the very first.1

To the man who has begun to hatehimself the gate to degeneration has alreadyopened; and the same is true of a nation.

Our first duty is not to hate ourselves,because to advance we must have faith inourselves first and then in God. He who hasno faith in himself can never have faith inGod.2

Whatever you think, that you will be. Ifyou think yourselves weak, weak you willbe; if you think yourselves strong, strong youwill be; if you think yourselves impure,impure you will be; if you think yourselvespure, pure you will be. This teaches us notto think ourselves as weak, but as strong,omnipotent, omniscient. No matter that Ihave not expressed it yet, it is in me. Allknowledge is in me, all power, all purity, andall freedom. Why cannot I express thisknowledge? Because I do not believe in it.Let me believe in it, and it must and willcome out.3

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The history of the world is the historyof a few men who had faith in themselves.That faith calls out the divinity within. Youcan do anything. You fail only when you donot strive sufficiently to manifest infinitepower. As soon as a man or a nation losesfaith, death comes.4

Imitation Is Bad

NEXT, YOU MUST understand this, myfriend, that we have many things to

learn from other nations. The man who sayshe has nothing more to learn is already athis last grasp. The nation that says it knowseverything is on the very brink of des-truction! “As long as I live, so long do I learn.”But one point to note here is that when wetake anything from others, we must mouldit after our own way. We shall add to ourstock what others have to teach, but we mustalways be careful to keep intact what isessentially our own.1

None can teach another. You have torealise truth and work it out for yourself

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according to your own nature…. All muststruggle to be individuals—strong, standingon your own feet, thinking your ownthoughts, realising your own Self. No useswallowing doctrines others pass on—standing up together like soldiers in jail,sitting down together, all eating the samefood, all nodding their heads at the sametime. Variation is the sign of life. Samenessis the sign of death.2

Another great lesson we have to rem-ember; imitation is not civilisation... Imita-tion, cowardly imitation, never makes forprogress. It is verily the sign of awfuldegradation in a man... We have indeedmany things to learn from others, yea, thatman who refuses to learn is already dead...Learn everything that is good from others,but bring it in, and in your own way absorbit; do not become others. Do not be draggedaway out of this Indian life; do not for amoment think that it would be better forIndia if all the Indians dressed, ate, andbehaved like another race.3


The seed is put in the ground, and earthand air and water are placed around it. Doesthe seed become the earth, or the air, or thewater? No. It becomes a plant, it developsafter the law of its own growth, assimilatesthe air, the earth, and the water, convertsthem into plant substance, and grows into aplant...[Similarly] each must assimilate thespirit of the others and yet preserve hisindividuality and grow according to his ownlaw of growth.4

7

What Is Ethics?

ONE IDEA STANDS OUT AS the centre of allethical systems, expressed in various

forms, namely, doing good to others. Theguiding motive of mankind should be charitytowards men, charity towards all animals. Butthese are all various expressions of that eternaltruth that, “I am the universe; this universeis one.” Or else, where is the reason? Whyshould I do good to my fellowmen? Whyshould I do good to others? What compelsme? It is sympathy, the feeling of samenesseverywhere. The hardest hearts feel sympathyfor beings sometimes. Even the man who getsfrightened if he is told that this assumedindividuality is really a delusion, that it is


ignoble to try to cling to this apparentindividuality, that very man will tell you thatextreme self-abnegation is the centre of allmorality. And what is perfect self-abnegation?It means the abnegation of this apparent self,the abnegation of all selfishness. This idea of“me and mine”—Ahamkara and Mamata—isthe result of past superstition, and the morethis present self passes away, the more thereal Self becomes manifest. This is true self-abnegation, the centre, the basis, the gist ofall moral teaching; and whether man knowsit or not, the whole world is slowly goingtowards it, practising it more or less. Only,the vast majority of mankind are doing it un-consciously. Let them do it consciously. Letthem make the sacrifice, knowing that this“me and mine” is not the real Self, but only alimitation. But one glimpse of that infinitereality which is behind—but one spark of thatinfinite fire that is the All—represents thepresent man; the Infinite is his true nature.1

Doing good to others is virtue (Dharma);injuring others is sin. Strength and manlinessare virtue; weakness and cowardice are sin.

WHAT IS ETHICS? 103

Independence is virtue; dependence is sin.Loving others is virtue; hating others is sin.Faith in God and in one’s own Self is virtue;doubt is sin. Knowledge of oneness is virtue;seeing diversity is sin. The different scrip-tures only show the means of attainingvirtue.2

It is the quintessence of all ethics,preached in any language, or in any religion,or by any prophet in the world. “Be thouunselfish”, “Not ‘I’, but ‘thou’”—that is thebackground of all ethical codes. And what ismeant by this is the recognition of non-individuality—that you are a part of me, andI of you; the recognition that in hurting youI hurt myself, and in helping you I helpmyself; the recognition that there cannotpossibly be death for me when you live.When one worm lives in this universe, howcan I die? For my life is in the life of thatworm. At the same time it will teach us thatwe cannot leave one of our fellow-beingswithout helping him, that in his goodconsists my good.3

Hold On to the Ideal

THAT IS THE ONE GREAT FIRST STEP—the realdesire for the ideal. Everything comes

easy after that…. The struggle is the greatlesson. Mind you, the great benefit in thislife is struggle. It is through that we pass. Ifthere is any road to Heaven, it is throughHell. Through Hell to Heaven is always theway. When the soul has wrestled withcircumstances and has met death, a thou-sand times death on the way, but nothingdaunted has struggled forward again andagain and yet again, then the soul comes outas a giant and laughs at the ideal he has beenstruggling for, because he finds how muchgreater is he than the ideal. I am the end,

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my own Self, and nothing else, for what isthere to compare to my own Self? Can a bagof gold be the ideal of my Soul? Certainlynot! My Soul is the highest ideal that I canhave. Realising my own real nature is theone goal of my life.

There is nothing that is absolutely evil.The devil has a place here as well as God,else he would not be here. Just as I told you,it is through Hell that we pass to Heaven.Our mistakes have places here. Go on! Donot look back if you think you have donesomething that is not right. Now, do youbelieve you could be what you are today, hadyou not made those mistakes before? Blessyour mistakes, then. They have been angelsunawares. Blessed be torture! Blessed behappiness! Do not care what be your lot.Hold on to the ideal. March on! Do not lookback upon little mistakes and things. In thisbattlefield of ours, the dust of mistakes mustbe raised. Those who are so thin-skinnedthat they cannot bear the dust, let them getout of the ranks.1


If a man with an ideal makes a thousandmistakes, I am sure that the man without anideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it isbetter to have an ideal. And this ideal wemust hear about as much as we can, till itenters into our hearts, into our brains, intoour very veins, until it tingles in every dropof our blood and permeates every pore inour body. We must meditate upon it. “Outof the fullness of the heart the mouthspeaketh,” and out of the fullness of the heartthe hand works too.

It is thought which is the propellingforce in us. Fill the mind with the highestthoughts, hear them day after day, thinkthem month after month. Never mindfailures; they are quite natural, they are thebeauty of life, these failures. What would lifebe without them? It would not be worthhaving if it were not for struggles. Wherewould be the poetry of life? Never mind thestruggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cowtell a lie, but it is only a cow—never a man.So never mind these failures, these little back-slidings; hold the ideal a thousand times, and

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if you fail a thousand times, make theattempt once more. The ideal of man is tosee God in everything. But if you cannot seeHim in everything, see Him in one thing, inthat thing which you like best, and then seeHim in another. So on you can go. There isinfinite life before the soul. Take your timeand you will achieve your end.2

Take up one idea. Make that one ideayour life—think of it, dream of it, live on thatidea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, everypart of your body, be full of that idea, andjust leave every other idea alone. This is theway to success, and this is the way greatspiritual giants are produced. Others aremere talking machines.3

The life of the practical is in the ideal. Itis the ideal that has penetrated the whole ofour lives, whether we philosophise, orperform the hard, everyday duties of life.The rays of the ideal, reflected and refractedin various straight or tortuous lines, arepouring in through every aperture andwindhole, and consciously or unconsciously,every function has to be performed in its


light, every object has to be seen trans-formed, heightened, or deformed by it. It isthe ideal that has made us what we are, andwill make us what we are going to be. It isthe power of the ideal that has enshroudedus, and is felt in our joys or sorrows, in ourgreat acts or mean doings, in our virtues andvices.4

The Power of Concentration

THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN men and theanimals is the difference in their power

of concentration. All success in any line ofwork is the result of this. Everybody knowssomething about concentration. We see itsresults every day. High achievements in art,music, etc. are the results of concentration.An animal has very little power of con-centration. Those who have trained animalsfind much difficulty in the fact that theanimal is constantly forgetting what is toldhim. He cannot concentrate his mind longupon anything at a time. Herein is thedifference between man and the animals—man has the greater power of concentration.


The difference in their power of con-centration also constitutes the differencebetween man and man. Compare the lowestwith the highest man. The difference is inthe degree of concentration. This is the onlydifference.

Everybody’s mind becomes concen-trated at times. We all concentrate uponthose things we love, and we love thosethings upon which we concentrate ourminds. What mother is there that does notlove the face of her homeliest child? Thatface is to her the most beautiful in the world.She loves it because she concentrates hermind upon it; and if every one couldconcentrate his mind on that same face,everyone would love it. It would be to allthe most beautiful face. We all concentrateour minds upon those things we love.

The great trouble with such concen-trations is that we do not control the mind;it controls us. Something outside of our-selves, as it were, draws the mind into it andholds it as long as it chooses. We hearmelodious tones or see a beautiful painting,

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and the mind is held fast; we cannot take itaway.

If I speak to you well upon a subject youlike, your mind becomes concentrated uponwhat I am saying. I draw your mind awayfrom yourself and hold it upon the subjectin spite of yourself. Thus our attention isheld, our minds are concentrated uponvarious things, in spite of ourselves. Wecannot help it.

Now the question is: Can this concen-tration be developed, and can we becomemasters of it? The Yogis say, yes. The Yogissay that we can get perfect control of themind. On the ethical side there is danger inthe development of the power of concen-tration—the danger of concentrating themind upon an object and then being unableto detach at will. This state causes greatsuffering. Almost all of our suffering iscaused by our not having the power ofdetachment. So along with the developmentof concentration we must develop the powerof detachment. We must learn not only toattach the mind to one thing exclusively, but


also to detach it at a moment’s notice andplace it on something else. These two shouldbe developed together to make it safe.

This is the systematic development ofthe mind. To me the very essence ofeducation is concentration of mind, not thecollecting of facts. If I had to do my educationover again, and had any voice in the matter,I would not study facts at all. I woulddevelop the power of concentration anddetachment, and then with a perfectinstrument I could collect facts at will. Sideby side, in the child, should be developedthe power of concentration and detach-ment.1

How has all the knowledge in the worldbeen gained but by the concentration of thepowers of the mind? The world is ready togive up its secrets if we only know how toknock, how to give it the necessary blow. Thestrength and force of the blow come throughconcentration. There is no limit to the powerof the human mind. The more concentratedit is, the more power is brought to bear onone point; that is the secret.2

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In training the mind the first step is tobegin with breathing. Regular breathing putsthe body in a harmonious condition; and itis then easier to reach the mind. In practicingbreathing, the first thing to consider is Asanaor posture. Any posture in which a personcan sit easily is his proper position. The spineshould be kept free, and the weight of thebody should be supported by the ribs. Donot try by contrivances to control the mind;simple breathing is all that is necessary inthat line.3

Develop the Sense of Equality

DO NOT PITY ANYONE. LOOK upon all asyour equal, cleanse yourself of the

primal sin of inequality. We are all equal andmust not think, “I am good and you are bad,and I am trying to reclaim you”. Equality isthe sign of the free....

Only sinners see sin. See not man, seeonly the Lord. We manufacture our ownheaven and can make a heaven even in hell.Sinners are only to be found in hell, and aslong as we see them around us, we are thereourselves.1

Men must have education. They speakof democracy, of the equality of all men,these days. But how will a man know he is

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equal with all? He must have a strong brain,a clear mind free of nonsensical ideas; hemust pierce through the mass of super-stitions encrusting his mind to the pure truththat is in his inmost Self. Then he will knowthat all perfections, all powers are alreadywithin himself, that these have not to begiven him by others. When he realises this,he becomes free that moment, he achievesequality. He also realises that every one elseis equally as perfect as he, and he does nothave to exercise any power, physical, mentalor moral, over his brother men. He abandonsthe idea that there was ever any man whowas lower than himself. Then he can talk ofequality; not until then.2

Be Free

LEARN TO FEEL YOURSELF in other bodies,to know that we are all one. Throw all

other nonsense to the winds. Spit out youractions, good or bad, and never think of themagain. What is done is done. Throw offsuperstition. Have no weakness even in theface of death. Do not repent, do not broodover past deeds, and do not remember yourgood deeds; be azad (free). The weak, thefearful, the ignorant will never reach Atman.You cannot undo, the effect must come, faceit, but be careful never to do the same thingagain. Give up the burden of all deeds to theLord; give all, both good and bad. Do notkeep the good and give only the bad. God

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helps those who do not help themselves.1

When you have acquired the feeling ofnon-attachment, there will then be neithergood nor evil for you. It is only selfishnessthat causes the difference between good andevil. It is a very hard thing to understand,but you will come to learn in time thatnothing in the universe has power over youuntil you allow it to exercise such a power.Nothing has power over the Self of man,until the Self becomes a fool and losesindependence. So, by non-attachment youovercome and deny the power of anythingto act upon you. It is very easy to say thatnothing has the right to act upon you untilyou allow it to do so; but what is the truesign of the man who…is neither happy norunhappy when acted upon by the externalworld? The sign is that good or ill fortunecauses no change in his mind: in all con-ditions he continues to remain the same.2

All these things which we call causes ofmisery and evil, we shall laugh at when wearrive at that wonderful state of equality, thatsameness. This is what is called in Vedanta8


attaining to freedom. The sign of approa-ching that freedom is more and more of thissameness and equality. In misery andhappiness the same, in success and defeatthe same—such a mind is nearing that stateof freedom.3

He who has succeeded in attaching ordetaching his mind to or from the centres atwill has succeeded in Pratyahara, whichmeans, “gathering towards,” checking theoutgoing powers of the mind, freeing it fromthe thraldom of the senses. When we cando this, we shall really possess character;then alone we shall have taken a long steptowards freedom; before that we are meremachines.4

The sage wants liberty; he finds thatsense-objects are all vain and that there isno end to pleasures and pains. How manyrich people in the world want to find freshpleasures! All pleasures are old, and theywant new ones. Do you not see how manyfoolish things they are inventing every day,just to titillate the nerves for a moment, andthat done, how there comes a reaction? The

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majority of people are just like a flock ofsheep. If the leading sheep falls into a ditch,all the rest follow and break their necks. Inthe same way, what one leading member ofa society does, all the others do, withoutthinking what they are doing. When a manbegins to see the vanity of worldly things,he will feel he ought not to be thus playedupon or borne along by nature. That isslavery. If a man has a few kind words saidto him, he begins to smile, and when hehears a few harsh words, he begins to weep.He is a slave to a bit of bread, to a breath ofair; a slave to dress, a slave to patriotism, tocountry, to name, and to fame. He is thus inthe midst of slavery and the real man hasbecome buried within, through his bondage.What you call man is a slave. When onerealises all this slavery, then comes the desireto be free; an intense desire comes. If a pieceof burning charcoal be placed on a man’shead, see how he struggles to throw it off.Similar will be the struggle for freedom of aman who really understands that he is a slaveof nature.5


Be free, and then have any number ofpersonalities you like. Then we will play likethe actor who comes upon the stage and playsthe part of a beggar. Contrast him with theactual beggar walking in the streets. Thescene is, perhaps, the same in both cases, thewords are, perhaps, the same, but yet whatdifference! The one enjoys his beggary whilethe other is suffering misery from it. Andwhat makes this difference? the one is freeand the other is bound. The actor knows hisbeggary is not true, but that he has assumedit for play, while the real beggar thinks thatit is his too familiar state and that he has tobear it whether he wills it or not. This is thelaw. So long as we have no knowledge ofour real nature, we are beggars, jostled aboutby every force in nature; and made slaves ofby everything in nature; we cry all over theworld for help, but help never comes to us;we cry to imaginary beings, and yet it nevercomes. But still we hope help will come, andthus in weeping, wailing, and hoping, onelife is passed, and the same play goes on andon.6

March On!

NOW, IF THERE IS ANY ONE amongst youwho really wants to study this science,

he will have to start with that sort ofdetermination, the same as, nay even morethan, that which he puts into any businessof life.

And what an amount of attention doesbusiness require, and what a rigorous task-master it is! Even if the father, the mother,the wife, or the child dies, business cannotstop! Even if the heart is breaking, we stillhave to go to our place of business, whenevery hour of work is a pang. That isbusiness, and we think that it is just, that itis right.


This science calls for more applicationthan any business can ever require. Manymen can succeed in business; very few inthis. Because so much depends upon theparticular constitution of the person study-ing it. As in business all may not make afortune, but everyone can make something,so in the study of this science each one canget a glimpse which will convince him of itstruth and of the fact that there have beenmen who realised it fully.1

Even the least thing well done bringsmarvellous results; therefore let everyone dowhat little he can. If the fisherman thinksthat he is the Spirit, he will be a betterfisherman; if the student thinks he is theSpirit, he will be a better student. If thelawyer thinks that he is the Spirit, he will bea better lawyer, and so on.2

Advance like a hero. Don’t be thwartedby anything. How many days will this bodylast, with its happiness and misery? Whenyou have got the human body, then rousethe Atman within and say—I have reachedthe state of fearlessness!…and then as long

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as the body endures, speak unto others thismessage of fearlessness: “Thou art That”,“Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal isreached!”3

REFERENCES

[CW below refers to The Complete Works ofSwami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata; Uprefers to Upanishad; the Roman numerals and theArabic numerals following CW refer to the volumenumber and to the page numbers respectively.]

Introduction

1. CW, vi, 30. 2. Gita, 6. 5-6.3. Katha Up, 1. 3. 3-4. 4. Kena Up, 1. 1-2.5. CW, vii, 501. 6. CW, i, 124.7. CW, iv, 200. 8. CW, v, 308.9. CW, i, 208. 10. CW, i, 31.

11. CW, v, 228. 12. CW, iii, 193.

It Is Personality That Matters

1. CW, vi, 49. 2. CW, ii, 13-15

Laws of Personality Development

1. CW, ii, 16-17.

REFERENCES 125

Different Layers of Personality

1. CW, ii, 424-25. 2. CW, iv, 256.3. CW, iv, 191.

Man Is Divine

1. CW, i, 11. 2. CW, viii, 186.3. CW, i, 388. 4. CW, iv, 351.

Pleasure Is Not the Goal

1. CW, i, 27. 2. CW, iii, 4.

3. CW, v, 267.

How to Change Our Character

1. CW, i, 54-55. 2. CW, i, 29.3. CW, i, 30. 4. CW, vii, 14.5. CW, viii, 383. 6. CW, i, 207-08.7. CW, vii, 90.

Influence of Thought

1. CW, i, 81. 2. CW, i, 81-82.

3. CW, ii, 302.

Control Your Negative Emotions

1. CW, i, 222-23. 2. CW, i, 262.3. CW, i, 196. 4. CW, v, 37.

REFERENCES126

Change Yourself First

1. CW, i, 426. 2. CW, i, 92.3. CW, vii, 27-28.

Take the Whole Responsibility on Yourself

1. CW, i, 31. 2. CW, ii, 7.3. CW, ii, 201-02. 4. CW, ii, 182.

5. CW, ii, 225.

How to Work?

1. CW, i, 32. 2. CW, ii, 292-93.3. CW, i, 31. 4. CW, i, 40.5. CW, vi, 455. 6. CW, i, 71.7. CW, ii, 150. 8. CW, vii, 508.9. CW, v, 239-40

Work Like a Master

1. CW, i, 57. 2. CW, v, 241.3. CW, ii, 149.

Doing Good to This World

1. CW, i, 75. 2. CW, i, 76.3. CW, vii, 111-12. 4. CW, i, 90.

5. CW, ii, 5-6 6. CW, iv, 464.

Unselfishness Will Bring Success

1. CW, i, 33. 2. CW, iii, 143.

3. CW, v, 240. 4. CW, vi, 294.

REFERENCES 127

It Is Love That Pays

1. CW, iv, 367. 2. CW, vi, 451.3. CW, i, 67. 4. CW, v, 51.5. CW, vi, 463. 6. CW, v, 177.

Weakness Is Death

1. CW, ii, 3. 2. CW, i, 338-39.3. CW, i, 381. 4. CW, iii, 242.5. CW, ii, 87. 6. CW, viii, 184.7. CW, viii, 185.

Be Brave

1. CW, ii, 351. 2. CW, ii, 403.

3. CW, v, 108.

Heroism

1. CW, v, 462. 2. CW, vii, 126.3. CW, vii, 136.

Faith in Oneself

1. CW, ii, 301. 2. CW, i, 38.

3. CW, iii, 130. 4. CW, viii, 228.

Imitation Is Bad

1. CW, v, 463. 2. CW, vi, 65.

3. CW, iii, 381-82. 4. CW, i, 24.

REFERENCES128

What Is Ethics?

1. CW, ii, 82-83. 2. CW, v, 419.3. CW, vi, 5-6. 4. CW, viii, 225.

Hold On to the Ideal

1. CW, v, 252-53. 2. CW, ii, 152-53.

3. CW, i, 177. 4. CW, iv, 285.

The Power of Concentration

1. CW, vi, 37-39. 2. CW, i, 130-31.

3. CW, vi, 39.

Develop the Sense of Equality

1. CW, viii, 18. 2. CW, viii, 94.

Be Free

1. CW, vii, 91. 2. CW, i, 90.3. CW, i, 426. 4. CW, i. 173-74.

5. CW, i, 411. 6. CW, ii, 323-24.

March On

1. CW, ii, 22-23. 2. CW, iii, 245.3. CW, vii, 213.

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